Chaldean Patriarch Urges Muslims: Join Us in Our Lenten Fast to Obtain the Gift of Peace

Chaldean Patriarch Urges Muslims: Join Us in Our Lenten Fast to Obtain the Gift of Peace

An invitation to “Muslim brothers and sisters” to join for a few days the annual Christian time of fasting to obtain “as soon as possible the gift of peace, stability and a dignified lifestyle for our country and for all the Middle East”. This singular proposal from Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I was addressed to Muslim fellow country men and women, on the occasion of the beginning of the Christian Season of Lent. “The season of Lent is a propitious time for repentance, conversion and reconciliation, with self, with the Lord and with others.

Let us take this opportunity for prayer, reflection, discernment and examination of conscience, and to restore harmony considering that division is sinful”. The Patriarch urges all the faithful of the Chaldean Church and all Iraqis to “love the country, just as we love our mother and father”, and “work to strengthen our unity in diversity, rather than pursue sectarianism”, recalling that “diversity itself is part of the plan of God”.